How many of you observant readers have noticed that in this past week, the comment box is now populated with little image boxes next to your comment name? Did not notice? Aww… shame on you! 😛
What I have done is activated the avatar function in the comments box so if you are signed up on Gravatar, your comment will now feature an avatar right next to your name. A Gravatar is a “Globally Recognised Avatar” so its an image that is not unique to your comment on my site, but it will follow you anywhere you comment so long as you use the same email address you register with Gravatar to leave your comment.
But why do you need this?
You don’t. Honest injun!
But its fun to have because it makes you noticeable and recognisable. I activated the avatar function because I wanted to personalise the comment box a little more. (If you are in WordPress, Go to Settings -> Discussion -> Avatars -> Show Avatars) I believe comment plugins like IntenseDebate or Disqus also pull gravatar images but Blogger comments do not (for now). The images that show up in the Blogger comments are usually by people with a Blogger profile.
This tip isn’t only for bloggers but applies to commentators too. The Gravatar will follow you wherever you leave a comment so if that blog or website has avatars turned on, you’ll see yours pop up there too. People are conditioned to recognise images as opposed to text, so if someone sees your image, and recognises you, they would be more likely to read what you have to say too. Now isn’t that nice? 🙂
You don’t need to use a picture of yourself of course. I do but its a stylised one. Some people use their website logos, some use cartoons, and others use random images they relate to themselves.
So if you have not already done so, now’s a good time to sign up for a Gravatar. If nothing else, you don’t have to live with seeing a grey silhouette box next to your name the next time you leave a comment here 🙂 Now, leave a comment and let’s see what your new avatar is 😉
Have a good weekend everyone!
Paris B
Jacqueline says
September 10, 2011 at 9:05 amHey Paris thanks for the tip! I’m going to check it out right now.
ParisB says
September 10, 2011 at 11:31 amHi Jacqueline! And there you are! 😀
Jacqueline says
September 10, 2011 at 3:39 pmI like yours, very cool!
ParisB says
September 11, 2011 at 5:36 pmThank you! 🙂 Sometimes a chance photo is all it takes for a classic shot 😀
synical says
September 10, 2011 at 10:55 amHad a Gravatar for years. Not useful per se, just fun. Otherwise, some other websites will just use their default non-avatar too, and that’s not fun 😛
Speaking of which, I haven’t logged into my Gravatar account for awhile now… darn.
ParisB says
September 10, 2011 at 11:34 amAs you said, not very useful but its lots of fun – and its a nice identification of oneself 😀 I haven’t logged into Gravatar either. Almost couldn’t get in coz I couldn’t remember my password 😛
rinnah says
September 10, 2011 at 12:15 pmLOL. I see my kitty Gravatar up there! 😀
I think I never logged into Gravatar since I signed up for them, but since my kitty is my standard profile pic everywhere (incl. Twitter) may as well leave it as it is. I’m more recognizable that way. 😛
ParisB says
September 10, 2011 at 1:21 pmHaha yeah I think most of us familiar with you would also be familiar with the kitty gravatar 😀
nenen says
September 10, 2011 at 6:18 pmLet me try, Paris :-). At wordpress, its automatically activate …
ParisB says
September 11, 2011 at 5:37 pmAnd there you have it! 😀 Thanks for the tip about WordPress. Guess those who have wordpress accounts will automatically have them too 😀
Stephy says
September 10, 2011 at 9:43 pmHello Paris! Here I am with a picture!
ParisB says
September 11, 2011 at 5:38 pmAnd there you are! 😀
giddy tigress says
September 10, 2011 at 10:53 pmThanks for the reminder! I don’t even remember that I already had an account without an image..LOL!
ParisB says
September 11, 2011 at 5:39 pmLOL I like seeing images of commentators – its easy to associate a name with a picture too.
Sandra says
September 10, 2011 at 11:05 pmThis is my avatar (:
Have a nice weekend, ParisB!
ParisB says
September 11, 2011 at 5:40 pmAnd hello there Sandra! 😀
Jeni says
September 11, 2011 at 2:43 pmI love gravatars! My other site (my skin care blog) has a really old theme and it doesn’t support gravatars:( I think I need to install a new theme to be gravatar-friendly.
ParisB says
September 11, 2011 at 6:11 pmYes Jeni, many older themes don’t support gravatars or threading comments and I think these are great features to have on a blog 🙂
Marina(Makeup4All) says
September 12, 2011 at 4:35 amooh, that’s me 😀
Gravatar is a great things. This way people with the same name can have different images.
ParisB says
September 12, 2011 at 2:05 pmYes you, lovely lady! 😉 And you’re right about the name thing. Sometimes, I see people of the same name leaving a comment and I wonder why, until I realise they are different people. So a Gravatar can help, if you choose to post using a common name 🙂
domncroxd says
September 12, 2011 at 8:27 ammy gravatar is…i don’t know what it is! i googled an image and thought it was cool enough and now i don’t know how to change it.
ParisB says
September 12, 2011 at 2:05 pmHaha I keep thinking its a radioactive cat 😛 You can change your gravatar by going to gravatar.com, logging in and changing your photo 🙂
domncroxd says
September 12, 2011 at 2:18 pmmaybe that should be my new online moniker. ksuan is swan, and i’ll be dom the radioactive cat.
ParisB says
September 12, 2011 at 2:21 pmmwahhahaa! Dom the radioactive cat! 😀
beetrice says
September 12, 2011 at 10:26 amhahaha…after your post I realised I’d signed up for gravatar…but hadn’t uploaded an image! *fail* 😛 thanks for the reminder!
ParisB says
September 12, 2011 at 2:14 pmLOL! Glad the reminder has resulted in a face to the name! 😀